The game of basketball is enjoyed by many people, ranging from young children to adults. Due to this popularity, many people install basketball standards, or goals, near their home, in order to ensure access to a basketball standard when they wish to play. A regulation basketball standard generally includes a rim mounted to a backboard and elevated from a playing surface to a height of ten feet. While most adults can play comfortably with the rim elevated to ten feet, many young children do not possess the physical ability to successfully shoot a basketball into a rim elevated to such a height. Young children playing on a regulation height rim often become frustrated due to their inability to successfully shoot the basketball into the hoop or rim. These frustrations can lead to a loss of interest in the game.
Thus, many people find that young children benefit from playing on a basketball standard with a lower rim, as children find the game easier to play and do not become so easily frustrated. Of course, depending on the physical capabilities of the player in question, the rim may need to be lowered some distance from ten feet, or only a few inches. In addition, even adult players who can play on a regulation height rim often wish to play on a basketball standard having a rim that is lower than ten feet, so that they can “slam dunk” the ball with greater ease.
For these reasons, basketball standards with adjustable height have become popular. Such standards can be used while elevated to a regulation height, or they can be used while lowered to sub-regulation height, if desired. Typical commercially available adjustable height standards can be adjusted in ranges from seven feet to ten feet.
Building a basketball standard that can be adjusted to varying heights involves consideration of a number of factors. One significant issue is providing a support structure that is sufficiently strong to adequately bear the weight posed by a typical backboard assembly. In addition to the weight posed by these materials, the entire structure must be sufficiently strong to bear the rigors of extended use, including repeated dunking of a basketball and the hanging of a player from the rim that is often associated with the dunking. Further, the backboard of the backboard assembly must remain substantially perpendicular to the playing surface regardless of the height at which it is set. In order to address these concerns, conventional adjustable standards often include linkage assemblies, such as four bar linkages, that can maintain the perpendicular relationship of the backboard to the playing surface over a range of heights, and support the weight associated with the standard while remaining relatively stable. In one typical configuration, a four bar linkage is pinned to the basketball backboard on one end, pinned to a support device at an intermediate location, and extends at a distal end beyond the support device to provide a section that can be raised or lowered to accordingly lower or raise the backboard assembly. To adjust the height of the backboard, an operator generally applies leverage to the portion extending beyond the support device to cause the linkage assembly to pivot or rotate relative to the support device.
While conventional adjustable standards have thus been developed which allow a height of the backboard to be adjusted, the resulting linkage assemblies are problematic in a number of aspects. One problem is that the linkages present pinch or crushing hazards due to the exposed linkages, braces, pivot points, etc. An operator can inadvertently place a hand or finger in these exposed areas and have the hand or finger become crushed or pinched under the weight of the backboard and linkage assemblies. This hazard is of particular concern in that it is often young children who wish to adjust the height of the standard. Young children are often not as careful as adults and can thus be exposed to an even higher risk of injury while adjusting conventional basketball standards.
In addition to presenting safety hazards, conventional linkage assemblies provided on adjustable height standards often consume a large area in and around the backboard assembly. In an effort to increase the leverage provided by linkage assemblies, manufacturers of adjustable standards often provide linkages that are expanded, or spread out, to an exaggerated degree to provide a greater moment of leverage. However, by doing so the resulting linkage appears very bulky and intrusive and can detract from the aesthetic appearance of the basketball standard.
In addition to these problems, conventional adjustable height standards are often equipped with elaborate, complex mechanisms which an operator uses to adjust the height of the standard. These mechanisms are often difficult to operate and add to the unsafe features of the standard in that even more moveable components are left exposed, leading to even more potentially dangerous pinch or crush points.
As a result, devices and methods for height adjustable basketball standards' that present an aesthetically pleasing appearance, are quickly and easily adjustable through a wide range of heights, and that do not provide potentially dangerous pinch or crush points to endanger operators continue to be sought.